No way out for the Javakhetian Armenians

21/12/2005
Caucaz - Europenews
By Albertine GIAN in Akhalkalaki
Translated by Ellie FORSHAW and Victoria BRYAN

Vahag Tchakhalian, aged 23, is the president of the ‘Armenian Youth Sports and Culture Union’. In March 2005, he founded the alliance of village and town representatives and various organisation leaders from the Samtskhe-Javakhetia region, in a movement called ‘United Javakhk’.The main aims of this organisation are the preservation of the Armenian community through the safeguard of its secular culture, its unique language and the apostolic Church, as well as the defence of the rights of Javakhetian Armenians and the socio-economic development of the region.Following the example of the Samtskhe-Javakhetia administrative organisation, “United Javakhk” seeks regional autonomy. It is the only judicial solution to be backed by most, and has the aim of defending the Armenian community against Georgian assimilatory nationalism and against the danger of increased Turkish presence in Javakhetia.Javakhetia’s economic slump also needs to be urgently addressed in order to stop the emigration of its people to Russia. The stakes are high, on demographic, cultural, economic and social agendas. It is a battle on all fronts that the Javakhetia Armenians must wage alone. The future looks bleak. Here’s why.
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Ever since the Soviet period and especially since independence, the many governments that succeeded each other in Georgia have pursued this political direction, with the slogan “Georgia belongs to Georgians”. In Samtskhe-Javakhetia, it is obvious that the government wishes to totally dislodge the Armenians in the region and to destroy their culture. To this end, they use all possible means, backed by the police forces. More violent and methodical approaches have been adopted ever since the ‘Rose Revolution’ and the accession to power of Mikhael Saakashvili.
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Demanding the autonomy is not only supported by the Council of Organisations of Samtskhe-Javakhetia, as the Georgian authorities would have you believe, but also by the whole of the Armenian community in the region. Within a multi-national Georgia, constructing a stable state is only possible on the basis on a democratic federal model where all citizens, no matter their nationality, would have equal opportunities to preserve their national identity. But today, the Georgian political elite are on a path of imperialistic chauvinism with Russo-Byzantine tendencies, leaving national minorities with only the choice of emigration or assimilation.
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Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.